Conventionally, the bulk of instructional materials presented to students in a classroom environment has been presented by a teacher. Educators generally recognize that this conventional technique suffers many drawbacks which hinder a student's education. For example, all students in a single classroom receive the same instructional materials, and a conventional curriculum structures such common instructional materials for a hypothetical average student. The teacher typically modifies the instructional materials to compensate for differences between the teacher's actual students and the hypothetical student. Nevertheless, a large portion of the students are poorly served by the receipt of instructional materials which are beneath such students' levels of development, skill, learning, and education in the subject matter being taught. And, another large portion of the students are poorly served by the receipt of instructional materials which are above such students' levels of development in the subject matter being taught. Consequently, many students are frustrated at the instructional information they receive for one reason or another, and their education suffers as a result.
Other drawbacks to the conventional instructional material delivery techniques hinder a student's education. For example, a particular teachers' experience with the subject matter being taught may handicap the educational process. Generally speaking, education suffers when a teacher with less experience in a particular subject is required to present the instructional materials when compared to a teacher who has more experience.
Moreover, conventional techniques are severely limited for students who are visual learners as to the degree of visualization which may be presented in connection with instructional materials. Specifically, the more pictures and graphical representations, the more detail provided in such pictures and graphical representations, and the more realistic the presentation of such pictures and graphical representations, the more effective the educational process becomes. However, the limited number of static pictures or graphical representations contained in typical textbooks, when augmented by conventional chalkboard drawings falls far short of the degree of visualization needed to effectively present instructional materials in many subjects and for many students.
Limited solutions to each of these problems are known. For example, interactive computer-based software tutorial or training systems have been devised in which individual students may receive instructional materials via a computer. Such systems permit a student to receive the instructional materials which are appropriate for the student's level of expertise and to progress at the individual student's rate. When each student in a classroom has a computer programmed with a software training system, each student can receive his or her own individual lessons, and the instructional materials of those lessons can be especially tailored for each student. However, prior art computerized classroom systems are inadequate for teachers because they often fail to provide a controlling system which adequately manages the distribution and operation of instructional materials. For example, many conventional computerized classroom systems do not have the flexibility to pull together information from a variety of sources and manage this variety of instructional material. Teachers must therefore spend an undesirable amount of effort and time assimilating data rather than attending to teaching duties.
Moreover, modern classrooms are beginning to increase the use of educational video tapes, laser video disks, VHF and UHF TV, "live" video via camcorders, closed circuit TV, satellite TV, and CATV to augment instructional materials provided by a teacher. Such video resources provide improved visualization of the concepts being taught. As a result, the educational process improves to a limited degree. In addition, such resources are typically prepared and produced for wide dissemination. Typically, such resources are prepared by those who fully understand the subject matter presented and have a good feel for presenting the instructional materials in an understandable way. Thus, the educational process is enhanced. However, prior art video resource systems typically present their instructional materials to an entire classroom in a single setting or to one group of students physically located near a video machine. Consequently, such materials are not individualized for each student's needs but to a group's need. Moreover, such materials cannot be incorporated into an individual lesson with computer-based instructional materials.